Wireless communication networks serve wireless user devices with mobile data services like voice calling, internet access, media streaming, and software downloading. The wireless data networks have wireless access points that exchange data over the air with the wireless user devices. To extend the range of the mobile data services, the wireless communication networks deploy wireless relays between the wireless user devices and the wireless access points. The wireless user devices, wireless access points, and wireless relays use resource blocks of frequency spectrum and time period for their wireless communications.
The wireless user devices, wireless access points, and wireless relays also use Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) to communicate over the wireless resource blocks. MIMO utilizes multiple antennas at the transmitter and/or receiver to transmit wireless resource blocks over parallel wireless signals. MIMO may beamform parallel wireless signals for reliable multipath transmission of a wireless resource block. MIMO may bond parallel wireless signals that transport different data to increase the data rate of the wireless resource block.
With Single-User (SU) MIMO, one wireless access point and one wireless user device exchange dedicated wireless resource blocks that are not shared with other wireless user devices. With Multiple-User (MU) MIMO, the wireless access point and two wireless user device exchange shared wireless resource blocks that are used by both of the wireless user devices. MU-MIMO uses beamforming to maintain data separation for the wireless user devices in the wireless resource blocks. MU-MIMO has better spectral efficiency than SU-MIMO.
Unfortunately, many wireless user devices do not adequately support MU-MIMO. For a given wireless user device, some types of the device may not properly support MU-MIMO while other types of that same device adequately support MU-MIMO. Wireless communication networks are not configured to efficiently and effectively support MU-MIMO given the myriad of wireless user devices and device types.